One Is Never Enough

Chap 5

Chap 5

I stood there for a moment before entering through the swinging doors of the salon.

"Jack Harrison! Where've you been to?"

"Jack! You've been gone so long, I've.."

"Jack! Good mate! How's our mother?"

"Jack darling!"

Oh my. Popular eh? I looked at everyone in the room. They were crowding around him and he smiled apologetically to everyone.

I didn't have time for this.

"Hi. Do you have a telephone somewhere?" I asked the bartender. She was a buxom woman in her thirties and she looked over at me.

"Over there." she pointed. And I stared.

It was a bag of letters hanging from a nail haphazardly banged into a thin pillar of wood.

"Um. What is this?"

"Telegraph. The boy comes only once a week. Tomorrow is his due."

"A what? I'm looking for a phone. Telephone. Not telegraph service."

She shrugged. And went back to cleaning those glasses.

"No! You can't be effing serious! YOU'RE CRAZY! You mean to tell me they haven't invented the phone yet?" I had a mental breakdown.

But, of course, being a coward, the above monologue was only present in my head. Reality went like this.

"Do you have a pen and paper now?" I was desperate.

"A pound and a penny." she set the beer glasses down onto the table top and slid it over to the customer.

"I..." We had to pay for pen and paper too? Okay. All I need to do is manifest some money. Okay. Um. Think of some dollar bills and coins.

Nothing. Dammit.

Maybe I can change the image of the buttons of my dress. I ripped them off my sleeve and grasped it in my fist. The magic was called Mutatio, change in Latin. It was easy, but not for a disastrous witch like me.

Come on....

The tingling sensation rushed through my body.

Focus, Mich. To my fingers!

I felt the buttons turn hot in my fist. I bit down on my lip. Come on!

Yes! I opened my eyes as soon as the buttons turned cold in my hands.

I opened my fist.

Please! Please!

"That'll do." I opened my eyes as the bartender took away my coins-it worked!

It actually worked! Woo hoo! She handed me a small rectangular piece of paper and a pen. A feather pen.

I took it gratefully and scribbled down the date of the present and where I was stuck now. Hopefully this letter would make it to the future. I remember seeing it happen once in one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes. Cross my finger, please let it work.

"Dear Dad, Aunts..." I muttered under my breath.

"I'm stuck.."

"Hot guys.."

"Cowboys..."

And scribbled down pretty much what happened to me.

I folded it into half-couldn't take the risk and change my buttons to coins again to buy a envelope-and wrote down my aunts address.

Then I threw it into the bag with crossed fingers.

"Who are you? And why were you with Jack?"

I whipped around.

OMG. Bimbos actually existed here.

And no phones? How do they survive?

The girl in front of me was blonde, preppy and pretty. And I don't know how one actually looks preppy in these frocks, but she actually does. Her eyes were blue-duh?!-and she raised one eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Well?"

She could even do the head neck shake thingy! WOW!

"Uh..what?" I had to say that. She sighed and raised her eyes heavenwards before looking back down on me. Obviously, she was Amazonic.

"What was an ugly girl like you doing with him?"

Ugly? What was that supposed to mean?

I wasn't pretty like Dianna Agron and Nicole Kidman but hey, a girl with hazel hair and dark chocolate eyes isn't that bad!

"What did you think I was doing?" I retorted back. No girl messed with me and got away with it.

No girl.

She stood her ground, I'll give her credit for that.

"Stay away from him, or you'll get it." I yawned. Was she serious? This was really starting to sound like Glee.

"Get what?" I muttered and stared at her as she sashayed her way to the crowd round Jack.

A little magic won't hurt.

NONONONO. Don't do it.

Come on! It'll be just a teeny weeny slip of her shoes.

Don't you dare.

Watch me.

I watched in horror as my hands flicked something in her direction and sparks shoot out from the tip, barely visible.

It was like in slow-mo.

The spark hit her shoe, bounced off and hit a beer glass and bounced again and hit her forehead. She yelped and tripped over, clutching her forehead. The glass toppled over and crashed. With a thump, she fell and plopped onto the floor.

I rushed out of the salon and heaved huge breaths of air. This was not happening.

Wow. Did I just show that girl? Did I just-

Stop! I committed an offense! I actually attacked an innocent bystander!

Maybe not innocent.

I grinned. Then my smile faded. She wasn't hurt was she? Should I go in and check or what? I heard a vicious scream and more crashing of glasses.

Let's just go with 'or what'.

I giggled and paced a few steps away from the salon. Day-mn! When did my magic become not disastrous? Maybe I didn't need to go for a ritual and become fully-fledged.

Maybe-

I bumped into someone and turned around to apologize.

A shadow fell on me as I looked up.

"Well, well, well. What's a pretty, bonny lass like you doing all alone?"